It’s a fun and, we think, a very Magnetic Island way to support a former Islander who is risking his life to make a more open, transparent and accountable world. We are talking about the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, who lived on Magnetic as a boy and spent much of his time, with his mum, Christine, on beautiful Picnic Bay beach. This Sunday, Magnetic Times will be devouring a little cake and a cup of tea with friends at the Surf Lifesaving Club end of the beach to celebrate the achievements of Julian Assange and have a group photo taken to show our support. Of course, as an open public place, all who may wish to join us will be very welcome.

The plight of Julian Assange continues with the multiple award winning journalist and winner of the Sydney Peace Prize, presently a guest of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, following a request for political asylum in Equador with a decision expected after this Sunday, August 12.

We believe many Australians and women in particular have had misgivings over Julian Assange as he is being sought for questioning by the Swedish police over sexual assault allegations. To understand why Magnetic Times believes this is a travesty of justice and much more about the dark side of international politics, we highly recommend ABC TV’s Four Corners programme from Monday July 23 as a must-see backgrounder (Click here)

Many groups, including Amnesty International believe that Julian Assange’s achievements by publishing 250,000 US Embassy cables, which included the shooting of several unarmed civilians and Reuters journalists by a US helicopter crew - an incident which had been covered-up prior to the release of “Collateral Murder”, as WikiLeaks named it - played a vital role in triggering the Arab Spring and the vast efforts by citizens of many countries to overthrow despotic rulers and seek democracy.

But for Magnetic Islanders we thought it was time we showed our support for Julian Assange and remind our government and opposition that there are many who think we should stand up for one of our own.

To find out more about Julian Assange and the issues surrounding him we suggest readers visit WL Central (click here)

To read Magnetic Times' account of Julian Assanges’ boyhood on Magnetic Island, as told by his mother Christine, (Click here)

So why not join us in the sunshine on the beach at Picnic Bay from 4pm.

George HirstEditor

Supporting Julian Assange with a picnic at Picnic

10 comments

Editor

August 9th 2012

George, You probably could hold the gathering in the phone box outside your current abode. Julian Assange is not Magnetic Island's favourite son, in fact he lived here only briefly, did not even attend the local school. He is a peddler in stolen goods - plain and simple. As for any monument to him perhaps the Julian Assange Rape Crisis Centre or the Julian Assange Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinic would be appropriate. Keeping his name on your website will give you a bit of media coverage. As Andy Wahol once said " Everyone is entailed to 15 minutes of fame'" his has passed and so has yours.

George Hirst

August 9th 2012

I just love free speech even when it's wrong, plain and simple. So thanks "Editor" whoever you may be(??) but can you really call yourself "Editor" and misquote one of my favourite people? As Andy once, actually said, “Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.”

Crusty Herron

August 11th 2012

I agree with all who commented on the Bulletin item, "Islanders Float Statue Idea". The concept was and is outrageously ridiculous. We would be, as Lorna suggested, better off donating to Julian's fighting fund. When contacted by the Bulletin regarding The Picnic at Picnic in support of Julian Assange I immediately referred the inquiry to George Hirst, editor of the Magnetic Times. I made it quite clear, both verbally and in an email to the Bulletin journalist that I was not making any public comment on the issue, and that I did not want my name mentioned in any article about the proposed Picnic. When the journalist mentioned the statue my response was immediate. The Picnic was not about statues, it was simply an opportunity for supporters to get together at a show of support for Assange. With over 20 years of campaigning and commenting on numerous and various issues I am very aware of the associated protocols and meticulously observe them, particularly dealing with the media. I am not responsible for journalistic interpretation and license in creating a news item. I make no apologies for supporting Julian Assange. However I do sincerely, publicly apologise to George Hirst and the community for what has appeared in the Bulletin. I support the man Julian Assange and what he has achieved not a statue.

John Paterson

August 11th 2012

Picture Perfect at Picnic Bay: Lovely

Michael Smith

August 11th 2012

"Editor": Julian has never assaulted anyone, sexually or otherwise. He has done excellent work, Wikileaks had been exposing corruption in other countries long before the cablegate releases. The charges against him are trumped up, maybe some research on wlcentral dot org or other sites would be in order before you repeat the corporate media lies that the world has been fed again and again.

Ture Sjolander

August 11th 2012

Be careful! Look up tomorrow. A drone will take pictures of all of you by remote control in The White House, and broadcasted to William Hague and Fredrik Reinfeldt.

Nell

August 12th 2012

We are all be proud to be in a CIA picture taken anytime. We need to bust our generation to speak the truth :-)

Ture Sjolander

August 16th 2012

A little bit of common fantasy, a couple of limos, a couple of passports, a couple of similar nations like Ecuador, a little bit of mascara, hair color and brown contact lenses, a few word of voiced spanish, a number of legal visitor getting in and out like in sliding doors, the electronic devise changing users... and there we have another brilliant Thomas Crowns Affair ala Hollywood. If it's suddenly 3 Julian Assange's, subject to harrassment by the authorities it will create a huge international scandal. On top of that Tunisia, Venezuela, Ecuador...could issue an arrest order with a Red Alert for a few Swedes on Interpol International.

There is as many ways as there is numbers of people on this planet to crash this current insane "legal" construction concocted by the establishment of Western Gestapos.

Can you imagine if Julian had walked in to the US Embassy in London asking for asylum at the time he went into the Embassy of Ecuador, instead. Would we have got a straight answer then or would they have sent him to Sweden first.

Sweden and US are leaking 24/7 and more than ever before. It is oceans of dirt getting out from them. They try to stop their own stinking leak in finding a single person to blame so they can wash their monumental failures.

I strongly suggest US and Sweden to swallow their pride, and get on with their life!

Looks like Maggie Times is a "victim" of Cyber Hacking too! Or just happy to have more hits on it's website. Surely this is a clear example of Spam voting. Given our population has been fairly constant at 2500 & with about 2% showing up to support the man you claim as "Magnetic's" own (has JA ever mentioned Maggie Is?) one couldn't be really serious about a statue? Seriously! Publicity at it's best. I would've expected this release on the 1st of April. I support human rights & the right to support humans too. Maybe JA should not have missed the "Safe sex" cables from PD & he wouldn't be holed up in the Ecudorian Embassy in the UK. What about the rights of the 2 ladies wanting to know if they had STD's? Is JA not concerned about their health & why did they resort to going to the police to see if he could be compelled to have a sexual health check? (Four Corners 23/7/2012) So I ask, seriously, do you want a statue of Julian Assange on MI?

Ture Sjolander

August 16th 2012

At this point in time it would be much more motivated to make a sculpture group of a number of naked people picturing not only Julian Assange but also William Hague, Fredrik Reinfeldt, Hillary Clinton and both Julia Gillard & Tony Abbott. At this point in time neither of them are convicted. This 4 collaborating nations boys and girls are only a fraction of the numbers of all the nations in the world. This so called case is not driven by "authorities" but driven by a gangland of few individuals in the utmost ugly secret fashion. Assange's credibilty is absolutely as good or even better than the other naked people in the sculpture group, one should never ever forget.

What is now going on is the best and the biggest leak ever released by the Wikileak upto date, anyone shall understand with the most basic understanding of newsmedia&politics in mind.